Tag: video games

Winter Is Here

Time to hit the backlog while trapped inside

(Feel free to play the below soundtrack piece while you read)

To loop, right click on the video and hit “Loop” because it might play through before you’re done reading

Chicago saw its first snowfall of the winter season on Sunday. With temperatures continuing to drop and the frigid wind chill from Lake Michigan set to make even your bones shiver, we’re nearing the comfy inside/scary outside season.

With winter brings along the feel good holidays and the new year. I can’t believe how fast it feels like time is moving. Come May of next year, I’ll be out of college for 5 years and then my damn 10 year high school reunion will come a year after that.

No need to get existential now, anyway. Like I said in my last blog, I am still just really happy with my life right now and I don’t need to remind myself that my 50th birthday will soon follow my 10-year reunion, and then retirement next and adult diapers, soon thereafter.

But what I did want to talk about is how when it’s cold out, it’s the perfect time to find good books, video games, TV series, or movies and attack the backlog of things you wanted to read, watch, or play and finally get after them.

Last winter, I played God of War: Ragnarok (which has all the winter vibes a video game can possibly have) and finished Better Call Saul, which may have even topped Breaking Bad as a television experience.

This winter, I’m already off to a great start with a fresh reread of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit behind me and a revisiting of the Fellowship of the Ring well underway.

For my gaming backlog this winter, I’d like to give Cyberpunk 2077 another try since its new DLC, the Phantom Liberty expansion, has been praised for revitalizing a game that was considered one of the worst release disasters in the history of video games back almost three years to this day in 2020.

Back when it was released, I was going through a pretty rough spot. Knowing how much I’ve grown since then only shows that Cyberpunk’s revitalization was possible. I’ve also since watched the anime, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, on Netflix and that was a gut wrenchingly awesome show that made me even more excited to dip back into that world.

Check out this clip and then the whole show

I will also get around to replaying Final Fantasy VII: Remake because its sequel, FFVII: Rebirth, is releasing in February (not this year like I was hoping, but close to it) and I want to be fresh on that.

But the reason this blog is titled “Winter is Here” and my inspiration for wanting to write about getting to my backlog is because I’ve just begun my first rewatch of Game of Thrones since it concluded in 2019.

Everybody knows just how poorly written and rushed the end of the show was. And even though House of the Dragon (the Thrones prequel telling the story of the Targaryen dynasty) is awesome so far one season in, there was nothing quite like Thrones Sunday for nearly a decade.

We waited on the edge of our seats through 13 final episodes between Seasons 7 and 8, waiting for the next great thing to happen like it did in the first 6 (Some would say 4) seasons.

But it never did. And all we have to remember it by is a lonely coffee cup:

I haven’t distanced myself from the series completely though since it has ended. Regardless of how the series ended, Ramin Djawadi never wavered as the composer for the series. The score remained magnificent until the end and one song is still one I listen to nearly every day.

The best part of “The Long Night” Battle of Winterfell episode

The above song “The Night King” is absolutely magnificent. It’s intense, sad, and chaotic all at the same time. It’s also about 8.5 minutes long which I’ve discovered is the perfect amount of time to shower. That’s why I listen to it almost every day.

There are certain beats throughout the song where I know when to go from brushing my teeth (yes, I brush my teeth in the shower) to shampooing to body washing to face scrubbing and rinsing off. It’s a quick shower and if you know what time it is when you jump in, you know you’re coming out 8.5 minutes later without feeling rushed.

I head into this rewatch with steadfast intent, with more than Djawadi’s soundtrack to look forward to. As it is Winter, I’m looking forward to revisiting some scenes and episodes that I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch in years.

The Battle of Blackwater, the Red Wedding, the Purple Wedding, Ygritte (the real Queen of the Show), Oberyn Martell before he was rescuing Baby Yoda or guiding Ellie, Jaime Lannister’s redemption arc before it sucks ass at the end.

All of it.

So, now that you know what I’m up to this winter, go enjoy yours. Get into that large backlog before new shows, movies, video games, books, and more take up all your precious time.

And if the Night King is as easily killable as he was in “The Long Night,” we have nothing to fear about this winter other than freezing our asses off.

My blog has ended.

(I’ll leave you with this since I can’t not say this whenever the show’s intro plays:)

~DS

Tears of the Kingdom is already one of the most profound video game sequels of all-time

I haven’t even come close to beating it and I wanted to write about it

While Hogwarts Legacy cemented itself as an all-timer for me and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is also an incredible sequel that might be the greatest Star Wars video game ever, there’s another game that has completely taken over my life this year.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is Nintendo’s latest and greatest addition to the Zelda saga. Building on top of the revered Breath of the Wild from 2017, it was hard to imagine this game would fail to meet expectations. I even said this in my Most Anticipated Games of 2023 blog and to little surprise, this game lived up to the expectations and then some.

I haven’t even come close to finishing the game or exploring all there is to explore in Hyrule, the skies above it, and the depths below it to crown it one of the greatest sequels in the history of video games.

I’m talking Kingdom Hearts II and Batman: Arkham City levels of great.

Everything from BOTW has been improved or expanded upon and with its new Ultrahand and Fuse abilities, weapon durability, combat, and exploration have all experienced an upheaval.

People have already come up with really creative ways to play the game. Whether it’s fighting enemies with a giant dick:

Or finding a way to complete something that took me an hour to do in less than two minutes:

This game has already made its mark on gaming history. And yes, the above Shrine quest that requires you to steal a giant green crystal and transport it to a different sky island took me more than an hour. Goes to show how two different ways can lead to the same result in this game!

The frustrations didn’t stop with me there with this game, however. And yes, you can still get frustrated with a game even though you love every second of it. I’ll just go ahead and say: Fuck these guys.

I have yet to complete a certain dungeon that supposedly gets me closer to the Master Sword because of these asshole Malice hands. They consistently pursue you, drain your health, and instantly kill you if they get a hold of Link.

Every video and guide I’ve seen online too is just like “You better hope you have bomb arrows and may the Goddess Hylia shine down upon thee.” So absolutely fuck these guys.

Other than that, I’m absolutely loving this game and I can’t wait to pour hundreds of more hours into it as I inevitably collect everything like I did in its predecessor.

P.S. Hestu is back and this is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen:

~DS

P.S. addition as of today:

I got the Master Sword but the Gloom Hands can still go fuck themselves. Hopefully the Master Sword will make any further encounters with them a little bit easier.